


What You Do

by lunibean



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Luhan in denial (somewhat), M/M, poorly written dance scenes, sehun and yixing teasing luhan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-21 12:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12457329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunibean/pseuds/lunibean
Summary: take modern dance they said. it'd be easy they said. well, they were wrong. very wrong. luhan's friends seem to have forgotten to tell him that kim jongin was in the class as well.





	What You Do

**Author's Note:**

> i tried really hard on making sure everything was correct with the terms and such. i've never taken a dance class before so i don't know what actually happens so sorry if this isn't actually how things play out within dance courses in college. i ended up being very vague with describing how the performances play out, again sorry about that orz i had a lot of fun writing this tho ><

Take modern dance they said. It’d be easy they said. Well they were wrong. Very wrong. The class itself is easy. It’s the people, technically it’s a certain someone, that’s making the class excruciating. And that one person happened to be Kim Jongin. As in dance extraordinaire – Kim Jongin. Handsome, sun-kissed skin shimmering under the lights with a thin layer of sweat as he danced. Very distracting. Luhan’s friends just so happened to have left this vital piece of information from him.  
  
The first day was simple. The instructor went over what they’d be doing in class throughout the semester, and informed them about the end of the semester performance, which was then followed up by warm-up exercises and stretching. Luhan was starting to like the class, he really enjoyed being in the dance studio. That is, until Jongin came in. The other was in the intermediate class, with Sehun and Yixing, but both beginner and intermediate were mixed together.  
  
After warming up, the instructor jumps right into choreography, going over the first series of steps, so she could see what level everyone was at in dancing. While the beginner class went over steps, the intermediate class was standing along the wall, watching. Occasionally, the instructor would ask the intermediate students to help correct the beginners. Luhan didn’t need a whole lot of help, but that didn’t stop Sehun and Yixing from coming over and messing with him.  
  
Once the beginners were done, it was the intermediate students’ turn. Luhan watched in amazement at the way they moved. He’s already seen both Sehun and Yixing dance, it was Jongin who Luhan couldn’t stop staring at. The way he moved was beautiful, it was pure artwork watching Jongin dance.  
  
Luhan didn’t think he was staring that much until the class came to an end. Sehun and Yixing came up to him, snickering and teasing him about how he was practically drooling at Jongin.  
  
“I was not drooling!” Luhan pouts at his friends.  
  
“Well, it sure did look like it,” Sehun speaks up, grabbing his bag and moving towards the door.  
  
“Yeah, you were staring,” Yixing starts, grinning mischievously at Luhan, “ _a lot._ ”  
  
Luhan’s quiet as he follows his friends out of the dance room.  
  
“You don’t think he noticed I was staring, do you?” he bites his lip, close to dying of embarrassment if his doubts were true.  
  
Sehun looks over at him. “I don’t know,” he shrugs. “If Yixing and I noticed, he probably did too.”  
  
Luhan lets out a soft cry of embarrassment. If Jongin really did notice his staring, then he probably thinks Luhan was a creep.  
  
Yixing pats him on the shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry too much about it. Jongin is used to people staring at him when he dances. It happens all the time when we help with teaching classes.”  
  
“Yeah, like when we took the beginners class together. The girls wouldn’t stop staring and some were even brave enough to try and flirt with him.”  
  
“Well I’m not interested in him in that way. I just like the way he dances. His moves are so fluid,” Luhan tells them.  
  
“Hey! What about us?” Sehun pouts.  
  
“What about you? I’ve seen you guys dance too many times,” Sehun pouts even more, “Sehun, stop that, your dancing is amazing, stronger. And Yixing’s dancing is smoother,” Luhan compliments his friends. Earning a satisfied grin from the youngest.  
  
Exiting the building, the three decide to go out for bubble tea, Yixing’s treat.

 

The next few classes run by smoothly, the teacher shows them new techniques and different styles.  
  
Luhan tries not to stare too much at Jongin when the intermediate class begins, and he’d have to say he felt pretty good about not ogling the dancer throughout the entire hour. Or at least he thought he did.  
  
“You sure you’re not interested in him?” Yixing smirks as the trio make their way down the hall.  
  
“I’m sure,” Luhan reassures through gritted teeth for the hundredth time since he’s started taking the class. Though to be honest he wasn’t quite sure, but he wouldn’t let Sehun and Yixing know about it and tease him even more.

 

It was Saturday and Luhan was at the local park’s soccer field, playing a game of scrimmage with Minseok and few other boys from the college soccer team. Minseok, the soccer team captain, wanted the team to get in enough practice before their game next weekend.  
  
One of the boys on Minseok’s team dribbles the ball down the field, with Luhan coming up next to him. The boy goes to make a pass at one his own teammates, but kicks the ball too far ahead of him, the ball flies across the field and out of the lines.  
  
Luhan sighs and offers to go retrieve it.  
  
The ball had rolled to a playful group of students that were standing nearby. Chatting away and horsing around, shoving each other lightly in laughter, not even paying attention to the soccer ball.  
Luhan slows down to a walk and calls out to the group, “Hey!” he calls, catching a few kids’ attention. “Can you pass the ball?”  
  
The person that the ball is closest to picks it up. He looked familiar for some reason? And then Luhan realizes, as the boy comes closer, with ball in hand, who it was, soft black hair and perfectly bronzed skin.  
  
It was Jongin.  
  
His attire today was slightly different from what Luhan usually sees him wearing, instead of the typical tee or tank paired with sweatpants, Jongin had on a striped button up coupled with a pair of black jeans topped off with a beanie.  
  
“Oh, hey Jongin,” Luhan greets the other shyly.  
  
“Hey!” The sun-kissed boy smiles. “Luhan, right?” Jongin asks hesitantly, smile faltering slightly until Luhan nods his head ‘yes’.  
  
“Uh yeah….”  
  
Holy shit, Jongin knew his name.  
  
“Oh, you probably want this,” The other chuckles, handing Luhan the ball with a smile on his face. The two stand in a, surprisingly, comfortable silence. Letting their eyes do the talking instead.  
The trance is broken when Minseok calls out for Luhan.  
  
“Ah sorry,” Luhan’s eyes glance in Minseok’s direction before falling back onto Jongin, “…um I guess I’ll see you in class?” He raises an eyebrow, voice tinged with hope.  
  
“Yeah,” Jongin smiles at the ground as he rubs the back of his neck, “talk to you later then.” When he looks up at Luhan again, his smile holds a playful aura to it causing Luhan’s lip to curve upwards as well. Minseok shouts again.  
  
Luhan frowns, “I’m coming! Jeez….” He shoots a glare over to his friend, who just rolls his eyes before talking to one of his teammates.  
  
Jongin laughs a little as Luhan makes his way back over to Minseok and his team.

 

True to his word, Jongin did end up talking to Luhan more in class after their encounter earlier that week. Sehun and Yixing glance over at the blond after the dancer greets the other, a sleepy yet warm smile on Jongin’s face.  
  
“What’s that about?” Sehun asks, hovering over Luhan’s shoulder.  
  
“What do you mean?” The blond frowns slightly.  
  
“Jongin spoke to you. He noticed you.” Yixing’s smile is triumphant, like a proud mother.  
  
“Well,” Luhan starts with a shrug, “We sort of ran into each other over the weekend, when I was playing soccer with Minseok,” he explains coolly.  
  
Sehun and Yixing give him curious looks, but don’t say anything else as the teacher moves to the front of the class.  
  
“Alright!” The teacher claps her hands together, “Today, we’ll be working on pirouettes and few other techniques. So, let’s warm up and get started!”

 

Luhan continues running into Jongin out of class afterwards, they exchange quick ‘hello’s’ as they go their ways, but occasionally they stop to chat. The two also begin talking more during class and Jongin would be by Luhan’s side most of the class period, helping him. Even though Luhan appreciated the help, it was distracting for him when the other got too close or placed a hand on his shoulder.

 

As weeks pass, the end of the semester rolls closer, meaning the end of semester performance is drawing closer as well.  
  
“Okay everyone!” the teacher claps loudly at the front of the classroom, gaining the attention of her students, “It’s time to split you up for the semester end performance,” she picks up her clipboard from the table by the door, “You will be split into groups, couples, and I’m assigning some solo works for the students who I think can handle it.” She smiles to the students in front of her.  
  
“Throughout the semester I’ve been monitoring each of you individually, watching how well your form is and coordination, as well as how well you’ve been interacting with other students.” She pauses to flip through the papers on her clipboard, she continues as she scans over her notes, “I have listed who will be with who, some groups and couples will be mixed between the beginners and intermediate classes. Only the intermediate class students will be given solos,” she notices a few beginner students frowning and sighing, “Sorry, guys, you are all very talented, but the intermediate class deserves some solos, next time.” She smiles brightly at the group.  
  
The classroom immediately fills with chatter as the teacher takes a sip from her water bottle, quieting down when she is finished, “Once I’ve told you who’s in your group or what you’ll be doing, some of the other dance teachers are here to help with choreography. Now, who’s ready to find out what they’ll be doing?” she begins to read out her list, naming the people in groups first, then moving on to partners.  
  
Luhan frowns when he doesn’t hear his name in any of the groups assigned, immediately he jumps to the fact that he’s a bad dancer, maybe, and won’t be performing at all. Was that even possible? This did count as their final. If he didn’t perform, does that mean he’ll fail the class? Luhan throws those thoughts away. If he wasn’t listed in a group then he’ll be partnered up with someone, looking over to Yixing and Sehun, at the thought of being paired up with one of his hooligan friends, he scowls.  
  
“Jongin and Luhan,” the teacher says as she reads down her list.  
  
Luhan’s jaw drops.  
  
Wait.  
  
Did he hear that right?  
  
Did she really just say he was paired with Jongin?  
  
He could hear a few girls complaining. Oh boy. Sehun and Yixing were not going to let this go.  
  
Jongin walks up to him and smiles, “Hey.”  
  
Luhan quickly closes his mouth, “Uh…hey.”  
  
Most of the groups were leaving the room with the teachers already talking to them about the performances they had planned. With only a small group of pairs and soloists with their teachers, does Luhan realize, he and Jongin don’t have a teacher with them.  
  
“Don’t worry about the choreographer,” Jongin starts shyly, “I’ve got that covered,” he reassures, a hint of pride in his voice.  
  
“Wait, you’re choreographing our performance?” Luhan raises his eyebrows in shock, causing Jongin to chuckle bashfully, as light pink dusts his cheeks.  
  
“Yeah,” he rubs at the back of his neck, “I’m doing it as part of my composition class. It’s not finished yet though so we can’t really do anything today,” the taller says to the ground.  
  
“That’s ok,” Luhan smiles, but falters slightly, because now it’s his turn to blush when Jongin looks up from behind his bangs, smiling brightly.  
  
The taller pulls his cellphone from his pocket. “Here, give me your number, so I can message you when I finish, and we can meet up,” he says handing the device over to Luhan.  
  
They exchange numbers, and Jongin tells Luhan goodbye before he goes over to talk to the teacher. Luhan, still smiling, moves to go grab his bag, but stops when he realizes Sehun and Yixing are still in the room. Both smirking at him. Luhan sighs and leaves the practice room with his bag, knowing that the duo were going to tease him later.

 

(They did.)

 

Continuously the next day did Luhan check his phone for any messages or incoming calls, refusing to leave the house, just in case Jongin called. Luhan’s currently stretched across the couch pouting into a pillow, staring at his cellphone on the coffee table.  
  
“Luhan,” Minseok frowns from the kitchen, “Would you stop. Jongin will message you,” the elder continues as he moves into the living room with two cups of coffee. “You just have to wait.”  
  
“Yeah, so stop acting like some lovesick high school girl,” Jongdae chimes in, taking one of the cups. Minseok smacks the younger on the shoulder.  
  
“I don’t like to wait...” Luhan whines into his pillow. Minseok sighs, and says with a smug grin, “I thought you said you didn’t like the guy?”  
  
“I don’t.”  
  
“Then why are you acting like this?” Jongdae smirks, sipping his coffee.  
  
Luhan opens his mouth to say something, but at that moment his phone starts to ring. Snatching the device from the coffee table, he smashes the answer button and brings it to his ear.  
“Hello?”  
  
_“Hey, Luhan!”_ He smiles at the sound of Jongin’s voice. Luhan sticks his tongue out at Jongdae, who has decided he’d start cooing at the blond as he jumps up from the couch leaving the living room. He hears Jongdae whine as he shuts his bedroom door, Minseok must have smacked him again.  
  
“Ah hey, Jongin, what’s up?”  
  
_“I was calling to see if you wanted to meet up? I just finished up the choreography today and thought that we could start going over some of it. If that’s ok with you?”_  
  
“Of course, sure! Where do you want to meet up?”  
  
_“I was thinking at that café near campus.”_  
  
“Okay, I’ll see you there then?”  
  
_“Yeah.”_  
  
After hanging up, Luhan rushes towards his closet, digging through his clothes to find something to wear, other than the sweatpants and t-shirt he currently had on. Settling on a pair of black distressed jeans and one of his nicer shirts that was free of stains, he slips into an oversized jacket and heads for the front door.  
  
As he’s stepping out of the door he catches Jongdae hollering a “Have a nice date!”, before the door slams shut.

 

When Luhan walks into the café, he’s hit with the familiar aroma of coffee. Looking around he spots Jongin easily by the window, and gives a small wave. Jongin notices him with a smile and waves back.  
  
“Hey,” Jongin says as Luhan takes a seat from across him.  
  
“Hey, I hope you weren’t waiting here too long.”  
  
Jongin shakes his head, “No, I just got here a couple minutes ago.”  
  
A waitress comes by, takes their order and then leaves, promising to return quickly.  
  
“So,” Luhan starts, “you finished the choreo for our performance?”  
  
Jongin nods. “Yeah, it’s mostly a mixture of Cunningham and Graham, but I incorporated some ballet in it too,” He says proudly, confidence radiating from the sun-kissed boy. “I hope you don’t mind.” He suddenly becomes sheepish, realizing that Luhan may not be the best ballet dancer, or may even like ballet.  
  
Luhan smiles brightly, “That’s ok.” He wasn’t the best at ballet, but he’d be damned if he didn’t try for Jongin.  
  
The waitress comes back with their drinks, thanking them for their patience, before leaving them again. Luhan notices that Jongin is frowning at him slightly.  
  
“What?” he questions quickly, thinking he’s done something wrong.  
  
“You drink Americano? How?”  
  
Luhan, calming his racing heart, laughs a bit, “I like my coffee bitter. I’m not very fond of sweets.” He scrunches his nose at the sugar filled treats.  
  
Jongin grimaces, chuckling afterwards, and takes a sip of his latte.  
  
They continue to talk over their coffee for the next hour, getting to know each other better. Luhan finds out that Jongin has been dancing since he was little, mostly ballet, and later tried jazz and other types of dancing styles in high school.  
  
When they finish their drinks, they head out to the dance studio to begin practicing for their final.

 

The choreography was slightly more advanced with the skills Luhan had, but Jongin continuously showed him support and helped him out with the steps he had difficulty with the most. Even when it came to the duo repeating the same step five to ten times, Jongin never got frustrated. That or he was good at hiding it, but Luhan preferred the former.  
  
Luhan took notice of all the skinship and lack of personal space throughout the choreography, he felt like the dance was choreographed for a man and a woman, not two men, specifically when Jongin would place his hands on his waist or would pick him up.  
  
They practiced for hours, before Jongin spoke up and claimed it time to stop for the day. Luhan shines brightly, even though he’s completely worn out, when Jongin praises him for catching onto the choreography so quickly. After agreeing to meet up again tomorrow same time, they part ways.

 

On his way home, Luhan walks with a skip in his step.

 

They meet over the next few days. Luhan was improving with the ballet steps of the choreography. The only thing wrong was the way his stomach flipped every time Jongin would smile at him, or when they got incredibly close during the dance, his heart would begin to race.  
  
“Dude, you have a crush on Jongin,” Jongdae bluntly states after Luhan had finished talking to Minseok about how well practice was going.  
  
Minseok smacks the youngest of the trio, “But he has a point. You seem to have a small crush on him, Luhan.”  
  
Hiding his face in a pillow he lets out a long groan of frustration. Admiration, that is what he feels towards Jongin, none of this lovey dovey stuff. But the more Luhan thinks about it, admiration, was how it started, he fell fast and hard for the sun-kissed dancer.  
  
“I told you,” Sehun pipes up from his chair adjacent to the couch, not taking his eyes from his phone. Luhan removes his face from the pillow, and throws it at the younger.

 

The end of the semester performance date was approaching quickly, their teacher called for the students to meet in class, she discussed rehearsals would begin, so she could see how well they all were doing on their performances.  
  
Luhan began worrying his bottom lip, nervous about performing on stage with everyone watching on. A hand on his shoulder, and turning around to see Jongin smiling confidently at him reassures him that everything will be fine.  
  
“Hey,” Jongin squeezes his shoulder lightly, “It’s okay. I’ll be right there with you every step of the way, literally.” He laughs lightly, loosening up Luhan’s nerves. “Just focus on me.”  
  
Luhan gives him a small nod accompanied with a smile as the teacher calls their names.  
  
Squinting against the bright lights of the stage, Luhan moves to position beside Jongin. Inhaling deeply, calming his nerves he looks over to Jongin who smiles encouragingly. Luhan returns the smile just before the music begins to play.  
  
Lost in the movement of dancing and the music’s rhythm, he forgets the small audience he has, until the music has stopped and he’s staring at Jongin, his classmates and teachers clapping.  
  
“That was wonderful!” the teacher exclaims nearly jumping out of her seat, still clapping happily. “I could really feel the emotion in your moves and expressions.”  
  
The boys bow and mumble ‘thank you’s’ before they rush off stage. As Luhan and Jongin make their way into the audience to take their seats, Luhan hears soft praises and compliments, one specifically about how the pair look cute together causes him to blush. He jumps at the feeling of a hand taking his hand, glancing up at the owner, Jongin smiles, “I told you it’d be okay.”

 

Luhan face plants into the couch pillow, Minseok laughing from the kitchen counter.  
  
“Are you ok?”  
  
A muffled ‘no’ comes out from the pillow.  
  
“What’s wrong this time?” Minseok sighs, as he takes a seat on the edge of the couch next to Luhan.  
  
“It’s Jongin...” the blond murmurs, removing his face from the pillow, “He’s just so nice and talented, we did a stage rehearsal today and the teacher said we did really well. Everyone was saying how good we looked together and I just….” he sighs. “I don’t know.” he whines, burying his face back into the pillow.  
  
Minseok hums, “You’re worried he might not like you the way you like him.”  
  
Luhan nods.  
  
The other rubs his back. “Well,” the older squeezes his shoulder lightly, “from what I’ve heard, Yixing and Sehun spoke about a possibility he might like you back.”  
  
“You think so?” Luhan’s eyes sparkle when he looks back up at Minseok.  
  
He nods, “Yeah, you should tell him and see what happens.”  
  
Luhan doesn’t say anything.

 

After countless rehearsals, the end of the semester performance day had finally arrived. Backstage was chaotic, students and staff running around everywhere making sure everyone’s costumes were put together, that makeup was done, and the music ready.  
  
Luhan was currently pacing in the dressing room, having just finished with his wardrobe and makeup: a black long sleeve top with intricate silver embroidery about the collar vining down to the ends of his sleeves, a simple black sash tied neatly around his waist, and a pair of tight fitting black pants completed his wardrobe. As he moved about, the sash swayed with his movements, and the silver makeup adorning his eyes shimmer and sparkled in the light.  
  
Jongin enters the dressing room a moment later sporting a similar outfit to Luhan’s, only instead of silver accents, the other has gold.  
  
“You ready?” Jongin smiles confidently, all signs of being anxious completely unnoticeable. He reaches out to take Luhan’s hand, who happily takes the offer, both squeezing lightly. When their eyes meet, they hold unspoken words of encouragement.  
  
Their trance is broken when one of the staff members calls for them to the stage.  
  
Jongin’s grin widens and they head to the opposite sides of the stage and quickly get into position.  
  
Letting his eyes close, Luhan takes a deep breath before the music starts and the spot light is on him. When he opens his eyes, he sees Jongin still smiling at him.  
  
In the beginning of their performance, they start off far from one another, but as the music continues and the performance goes on, they move closer. Small leaps and turns have the two bodies seemingly gravitating towards each other, until they are face to face. Jongin places a hand on Luhan’s waist and lifts him up, following with a quick spin. Once Luhan’s feet are back on the ground, they part briefly before coming back together. Throughout the entire performance, their eyes never leave the other.  
  
Just as quickly as it started, their performance is over, once the two fall into their final steps and then end with Jongin holding Luhan close. The crowd cheers and claps loudly, Luhan can swear he hears Minseok and Jongdae being the loudest of the filled auditorium when the duo turn to bow, hand in hand.  
  
The duo move quickly into the darkness of backstage. Laughter bubbling up from their lips as they make their way to the dressing room.  
  
“We were amazing!” Jongin cheers, still laughing.  
  
“Yeah, we were,” Luhan smiles, as he tries to catch his breath. “It was because of your choreography that we did so well,” he mumbles as an afterthought.  
  
Jongin heard him though, of course he did. “Really? Thank you.” He smiles widely. Luhan nods as a ‘no problem’ and then a silence falls over them. Luhan suddenly realizes that they’re still holding hands, when Jongin squeezes his own paler hand in his larger darker one. Looking up, Luhan is met with the softest of gazes he has ever seen on Jongin’s face.  
  
“I like you,” Luhan blurts out. Quickly smacking his free hand over his mouth, eyes wide.  
  
Smooth, Luhan. Smooth.  
  
Jongin’s eyes widen slightly as well, before he laughs a little, but he doesn’t say anything. Not like he’d be able to get a word in once Luhan starts rambling. Jongin’s reaction setting his nerves on high end, making him confused and slightly embarrassed.  
  
“Well, um…you see, at first I thought it was just admiration, and that’s how it started out really, because – wow you’re an amazing dancer and also ridiculously handsome. And then suddenly I realized it was more than admiration and I wasn’t sure with what the feeling was, but we started hanging out more an – “  
  
A pair of lips stops Luhan’s from moving with a chaste kiss. He melts completely.  
  
When Jongin pulls away, Luhan hopes the lighting is bad enough that the other can’t see how red his face probably is right now.  
  
“Sorry,” Jongin rubs the back of his neck, chuckling nervously, “I wasn’t sure how to get you to stop talking.”  
  
“I like you, too.”


End file.
